


Weird

by AleishaDreams



Category: Free!, Free! Fandom - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Future Fish Babies, Future Fish Babies, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-05-13 06:03:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5697703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AleishaDreams/pseuds/AleishaDreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We are best friends,” she says, “Aren’t we supposed to… I don’t know, communicate without words by now? I mean, you guys do it all the time.”</p><p>“It’s different,” this time it’s Haru who speaks, without stopping washing the dishes. “Makoto and I are soul mates.”</p><p>Umiko rolls her eyes at her parents when she sees them doing googly eyes at each other.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, soul mates. I get it.”<br/>_______________________________</p><p>Based on BakaPandy's AU "Future Fish Babies".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Weird

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BakaPandy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BakaPandy/gifts).



> So, @BakaPandy and I were talking about her AU of Future Fish Babies, speficially of Sakurai and Umiko.
> 
> And we ended up deciding that we would write a two parts-collab of some sorts lmao. 
> 
> This is my part, BakaPandy will write hers!
> 
> Unbeta'd.

What is a “best friend”?

Someone dear to you, who is close to your heart, more than a simple friend, and definitely someone who knows you the best.

It’s easy to describe what a “best friend” is, everyone can do it, but sometimes weird things happen, weird things that confuse people. These weird things are when said best friend starts to act different, odd, out of character, a whole new phase you didn’t know they had and obviously don’t know how to react.

It’s confusing, it’s worrisome, it’s… weird.

Another “ping!” is heard in the room, with a green little light shimmering on the cellphone that is on the night table, beside the bed where she is resting with her stomach down and her face burrowed on the pillow. When the noise sounds, a blue eye opens slightly, focusing on the phone that, once again, pings and vibrates.

With a groan, Umiko turns around so her back is on the bed now, and sighs deeply. Without looking away from the ceiling, the girl takes the phone and unlocks it, finding that she has about five new Line messages, all from the same number; a number she knows well enough to recognize even without checking the name.

“Sakurai,” she says to no one, opening the app.

The first message is a normal “hello”, and the next one is a sticker of a pink whale shark waving a fin. Umiko snorts at the little cartoon. The rest of the messages is Sakurai asking her what is she doing, how is she, the normal, usual stuff, until the last one is another sticker of the same pink whale shark with a question mark. It’s probably Sakurai’s way to ask why hasn’t she replied.

Tapping the screen to start writing, she types.

_Umiko:_

_Sorry, I was taking a nap. I’m so tired from yesterday’s practice._

The word “read” immediately appears next to her message, meaning that Sakurai already read it. Wow, that was fast.

_Sakurai:_

_Drink some hot tea to relax your body, and take a bath._

_Umiko:_

_Snort. Ok, mom._

Umiko snorts for real, laughing out loud when Sakurai sends an angry pink whale shark sticker.

Yamazaki Sakurai, son of Yamazaki Sousuke and Matsuoka Rin, a swimmer just like both of his fathers, and with a big dream of going to the Olympics and win gold. He and Umiko have been friends since she has memory. The boy has been a major part of her life since forever because their parents are close friends. So, yes, Umiko can say that Sakurai is her best friend after all these years of knowing each other.

They have been through a lot together, along with her twin brother Takumi; lots of adventures, pranks, and consequences. Umiko thinks she knows pretty much everything about Sakurai, and she guesses Sakurai must think the same about her.

They are close, no doubt about it, but they aren’t Tachibana Makoto and Nanase Haruka “mind readers” close.

She sends a sticker this time, a blue orca laughing, and puts the phone down on her chest, nonetheless the phone pings a second later. Impressed at the quickness of the reply, Umiko unlocks the screen to check the message.

_Sakurai:_

_So, what are you doing now?_

Umiko frowns, confused at the text. They have been texting for just a few minutes, how is she supposed to be doing something?

The girl shrugs it off. Sakurai has always been like this, always so active and in need of doing something because he has this weird idea that doing nothing is a waste of time – Umiko suspects it’s because of his parents.

_Umiko:_

_Nothing. I’m still on bed and I’m kind of planning of staying here wwww._

_Sakurai:_

_Don’t be lazy, do something productive._

_Don’t you dare call me “mom” again._

Umiko laughs again because she totally was going to do that. Maybe they are finally entering that “mind readers” stage in their friendship.

_Sakurai:_

_What are you going to do?_

_I’m planning to do some training._

_Though I don’t know what kind of training. Maybe weights._

_Or running._

_What would you do?_

The messages keep coming and coming quickly, not giving Umiko the chance to reply to any of them.

_Sakurai:_

_My dad says he prefers weights._

_By dad I mean Dad Sousuke._

_My dad prefers running._

_My Dad Rin._

_It’s kind of annoying to have to call them that._

_How do you call your dads when you want to talk about one?_

Umiko sits down, looking attentively the screen waiting for more messages to come, but it seems that, for now, Sakurai is waiting for a response. Is it Umiko’s imagination or is Sakurai… rambling?

It almost looks like Sakurai doesn’t have a subject to talk about, and he is just throwing words around to not let the conversation die. It’s weird, Umiko thinks, because usually Sakurai doesn’t act like this. Normally, their conversations are paused and tranquil, not this… whatever it is.

_Umiko:_

_Big Dad and Small Dad._

Instead of text, Sakurai sends a pink whale shark laughing. Umiko concludes the conversation has ended – she doesn’t have anything else to say, after all – and gets up, stretching her arms over her head to finish waking up her body. She has to use the toilet, now that she thinks about it, so she goes to the bathroom to do her business.

Once she is there and done, she decides to follow Sakurai’s advice and takes a hot bath, feeling how her tired muscles begin to relax thanks to the warm water. Not only that, but her mind turns white with the silence and solitude of the room. Umiko goes out of the bath when her fingertips are wrinkled, feeling satisfied and content. A hot tea is on due now. Before going downstairs to the kitchen, she goes to her bedroom. To Umiko’s surprise, her phone’s green light is blinking.

She sits down the bed, unlocking the phone to check the messages. All of them are from Sakurai.

_Sakurai:_

_wwww do you call them like that in front of them?_

_I think Dad Rin would kill me if I called him Small Dad wwww._

_Umiko?_

_Did you fall asleep again?_

_Umiko, are you there?_

_Umiko, don’t be an ass and reply!_

_You fell asleep again, didn’t you?_

_Ass._

And to finish the round of messages, an angry pink whale shark sticker was sent.

Umiko frowns. Sakurai is acting weird, and she can’t understand what is going on, maybe if she asks? But what if there isn’t anything to worry about? What if Sakurai is simply bored to the bone and that is why he is sending a shit ton of texts? What if Umiko is the one over-thinking something that isn’t there?

Damn, if only she was a mind reader like her dads.

With that idea in her mind, the girl stands up and goes downstairs, making her way to the kitchen where she knows she will find what she is looking for.

“Big Dad, Small Dad,” Umiko says as she enters.

At the call, two men look at her. One of them is tall, of brown hair and green eyes, while the other man is also tall but still shorter than the first man, he has black hair and blue eyes. Tachibana Makoto and Nanase Haruka are their names, and they are Umiko’s parents.

“What is it, Umiko?” Big Dad asks her. He is sitting at the table, reading a book. “Is something wrong?”

Umiko sits down at the table, in front of her father, and putting the phone over the table.

“No, nothing is wrong,” she replies.

“Then what is it?” Small Dad asks this time. He is washing the dishes, but stops for a moment in order to look at his daughter.

She stares at them for a moment. Seconds before she entered the kitchen, she didn’t hear anything, not a single sound or peep coming from the room. That means both men were in complete silence. Together, but in silence. Just enjoying their company without the need to fill the silence, without the need to fix something that isn’t broken. It’s amazing, in a way, how her parents are so comfortable with each other that they don’t feel the need to talk to each other or be in constant contact. They are so close they passed that threshold of wanting to impress the other, because it isn’t necessary.

Umiko blinks twice, waking up from her momentary stupor.

“Sakurai has been acting weird,” she finally says, looking at her phone. “He texts me too much.”

“Stop replying to him,” Haru suggests.

“Haru! She can’t do that, that’s rude!” Makoto reprimands his husband, but in a moment looks at Umiko. “That is, if he is making you uncomfortable, then you totally should stop replying to him.”

“No, no. It isn’t anything like that!” Umiko bats her hands a little. “It’s just that he keeps rambling about… anything?”

At that same second, her phone vibrates and pings.

“See?” She points at her phone.

“Anything?” Makoto questions further, his eyebrows creased together.

“It’s like he doesn’t even have a conversation, and neither do I, so it turns out weird,” the girl says, looking at the phone that pings in that exact moment.

It must be that Sakurai has seen the “read” notification in the app, announcing that Umiko indeed has read his messages but hasn’t replied. Makoto chuckles at her, closing his eyes and covering his mouth a little. Umiko knows that laugh, it’s the laugh he gets whenever he remembers something from a distant past, probably from his high school years. It’s confirmed when the green eyes look for a second to the side, where Haru is standing washing the dishes again.

“Haru used to hate using the phone,” Makoto explains, “When we were in high school it was practically impossible to contact him through it. It was just when he started to travel that he begun to use it.”

Small Dad mumbles something, too low to understand clearly, but Umiko suspects it’s something along the lines of “Because of the distance”.

“Why don’t you simply ask him? Communication is the basic base for a healthy friendship, or any type of relationship,” Makoto suggests with a smile. Umiko sighs before answering, crossing her arms.

“We are best friends,” she says, “Aren’t we supposed to… I don’t know, communicate without words by now? I mean, you guys do it all the time.”

“It’s different,” this time it’s Haru who speaks, without stopping washing the dishes. “Makoto and I are soul mates.”

Umiko rolls her eyes at her parents when she sees them doing googly eyes at each other.

“Yeah, yeah, soul mates. I get it.”

“Umiko,” Makoto calls her, “What Haru and I have it’s based on years of knowing each other, and being together practically all of our lives. We were neighbors, so we spent a lot of time together. You don’t have that with Sakurai, who even goes to another school.”

“So… are you saying Sakurai and I won’t be able to read each other’s minds until later?”

“We don’t read each other’s minds!” Makoto exclaims, but he still laughs at the notion, “No matter how many times Rin complains about it, we don’t. Haru and I still have to talk things, you know?”

“I almost don’t believe you.”

“Well, it’s the truth.” Makoto shrugs with a smile. The phone pings and vibrates at that moment. “You should check what he is saying.”

Umiko slowly reaches for the phone, opening the Line app.

_Sakurai:_

_Sorry for calling you ass, that was too much._

_Are you mad?_

_Sorry._

The girl slightly smiles as she reads the texts. Her attention is broken when Big Dad clears his throat.

“What is he saying?” Makoto asks.

“He called me ass and now is apologizing for it, which is ridiculous because I call him that all the time.”

_Umiko:_

_Of course I’m not mad wwww but the only ass I see here is you www._

She sends the laughing blue orca sticker for good measure. A smiling pink whale shark is sent her way.

_Sakurai:_

_Sorry if I’m being annoying._

Umiko’s eyebrows crease at the new text, feeling a little bad about it. She doesn’t think he is being annoying, not at all, but it’s still weird to see him this insistent on continuing the conversation going without reason or a clear subject.

“Maybe it’s just that he wants to talk with you,” Makoto says, a soft smiling adorning his lips, and a gentle look in his eyes, “You know, because you are his friend and he likes you.”

She can’t help it when she arches an eyebrow at her father. He has A Look in his face. He has that Look he always has whenever he knows something, worst of all whenever he knows something **and** won’t tell anything about it. It only takes Haru a brief gaze to his husband to give a knowing smile, immediately taking on what Makoto is thinking.

Fucking assholes.

“Yeah, ok,” Umiko gives up, “I’ll ask him if something is wrong, anyway. This isn’t just his normal conversation.”

When she is standing up, Makoto begins speaking, “I’m sure something good will come of that, Umiko, because—“

“Talking with honesty is always for the best to understand each other,” Haru finishes, drying his hands with a towel while taking a few steps towards Makoto.

Umiko stares at both men, slightly annoyed at them being so damn… perfectly synchronized. Annoyed and slightly jealous. But she guesses this is what happens when you have known your husband since the moment you are born.

“Thanks, Big Dad, Small Dad,” she says, waving them goodbye to exit the kitchen.

“She really is adamant on calling us that, huh…” she hears Makoto say.

“I like it. It fits you, Big Dad,” Haru responds.

“Haru!”

Umiko snorts on her way to her bedroom, flopping into her bed with a small jump. She unlocks her phone, starting to type.

_Umiko:_

_You aren’t annoying, Sakurai. Relax!_

_But you’re gonna smash your screen if you keep writing this fast www._

_Sakurai:_

_Yeah…_

_Umiko:_

_What are you doing? Did you start your training?_

_Sakurai:_

_I couldn’t concentrate enough, to be honest._

_Umiko:_

_Ah, I see. Couldn’t concentrate because all you were thinking of was me, I see_

She teases, sending a laughing blue orca sticker. She is expecting Sakurai’s reply to be immediate, but it doesn’t come, making her frown. What is going on? Maybe he got busy?

It isn’t until a good half hour later, when she is reading a swimming magazine on her bed, that her phone pings again. It’s a new Line text, from Sakurai.

_Sakurai:_

_Do you want to go out this Saturday? You and me?_

Umiko stares at the text, wondering what is going on with her best friend.

Well, whatever it is, Umiko will be there for him.

_Umiko:_

_Sure._

 

 

  
  
  
  



End file.
